| My own preferences for a new rota would include flexible working within
the day shifts. I don't know if this is practical, but it is quite
common both within and outside of Digital these days. My suggestion
would be to work the standard 7.5 hour day anytime between the hours of
8 and 6, with the option to forgo lunch and leave earlier or vice
versa.
Tighter control on daily minimum manning levels would be required for
this to operate to cover the shift.
A suggestion I heard was to start the evening shift later, say 5 or 6
and work on until perhaps 1 am. We seem to have a surfeit of bodies
between 4 and 7 at the moment
Weekend working should still be part of the shift but make the gap
between working them much longer, say every 8-10 weeks and preferably
shorter hours 12 and 13 hour shifts are sooooo long at times.
So much for preferences, what business requirements do we have?
24 hour cover as mentioned, therfore no need to start at 7am, let the
night shift start at 1am and work until 8am.
Perhaps we could have a unit discussion on proposals once we have
exhausted this topic.
Richard
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Hi Guys,
Let's be sensible about all this.
At this time there is NO immediate need or plans to change the rota.
What we do have is a problem in how we cover Paul's shift. I,
(hopefully), will be sorting that out with Andy this week.
When the dust settles, we will have gained some experience on how
the current rota works with 19 people on it. At that time I'll
welcome further discussion here. In the meantime I may bounce a
few ideas off you, and ask you privately, of your thoughts on the
matter.
Oh, and could I ask you all not to modify the shift rota unless
you see me first, or it's to indicate someone has gone sick etc.
Brian
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT -
TOWARDS THE COMMON SENSE ORGANISATION
by Peter Moyes
What went wrong? When I left school in 1945 the map of the world was
covered in pink to represent the British Empire. We had defeated the
forces of evil and darkness - or so we thought - and in the euphoria
believed we were going to build a brave new world.
Our perceptions of our world were shaped by the belief that the world
was built around Western civilisation and Christian culture. Did we
not spawn the Renaissance and spread what we called civilisation to
the corners of the earth? Did we not lead the world in
industrialisation? Stoke-on-Trent and the five towns was the heartland
of the industrial revolution. Its prosperity was build on clay, ours
in the computer industry is build on the sand which produces the
silicon chip.
Most of us still perceive of the world in this way, with Britain and
the Greenwich meridian in the centre and with a troublesome Europe to
the left and an equally troublesome America to the right. Rule
Britannia!
In fact the the "real" map of the modern world has Japan at the
centre. Japan - not Britain, not Europe, not America - is now the
leader of the world and the Pacific basin the real geo-economic and
geo-technogy centre of the world. And it will soon become the
geo-political centre as well.
One staggering statistic says it all: Japan for 30 years has sustained
an average annual growth rate of 10%. No good sized economy in 6,000
years has approached anything near those rates.
This morning you have heard something about what we and others are
doing to try and stem the decline: how we have jettison cherished
beliefs and slaughted some sacred cows.
You have heard, for example, how in Digital we have cut real estate
costs and how we can help you do the same. You have heard how British
Gas also slaughted their sacred cows as they learnt to play management
musical chairs. You have heard how out-sourcing has cut costs, how
lights out computing can knock at least 38% off the cost of operating
computers and you will hear later of the benefits of intelligent
buildings.
No one would suggest that changes of this kind are not beneficial or
highly desirable. Anyone who has seen the competition we are all
facing from the Pacific Basin will welcome any improvement. But what
worries me, as I am sure it worries you, is that all companies and
organisations are seeking to cut-cut-cut while no one seems to
build-build-build any more.
Almost everyone is bending their efforts on how to cut costs and
improve efficiency - to do more for less. Literally no one seems to be
looking out to expand both efficiency and employment: to plan for
prosperity beyond the present recession. The ship is sinking and we
are all too busy manning the pumps.
So the question I would like to pose is a very simple one. What can we
- you and me - do about it?
The obvious starting point is surely to seek to learn from those who
are succeeding in the modern world - Japan and the Pacific Basin - and
to stop importing most of our management "wisdom" from the U.S. whose
economy is in a parlous state. So as we have all quite rightly started
to slaughter our sacred cows how about slaughtering the sacred Guru's
as well?
The Japanese and the Germans (the two most successful economies in the
world) manage very well indeed without them but Anglo-American
business is in thrall to Guru's and all they proclaim Have we really
forgotten to think for ourselves and to use common sense instead of
nonsense?
I don't know about you but my head spins at some of the theories I
read and hear about. The three in vogue at the moment seem to be
Customer Care, Total Quality Management and Mass Customerisation. What
an earth do they mean? The answer I am afraid is not very much.
Customer care for example is being energetically marketed as the best
thing since before sliced bread was invented. It surely does not take
a genius or a PH.D. to understand that success in business of any kind
depends on satisfying customers. I learned that many years ago when I
used to serve in a radio shop. I don't have to tell you that for
goodness sake do I? But people are actually writing books about it,
doing expensive surveys and providing expensive seminars! Where is the
common sense?
And what about TQM? We all believe in total quality don't we? A few
months ago a director of a large European company proudly told me that
his company believed in Total Quality Management. With the exquisite
diplomacy, the incredible charm and the amazing tact which only
Yorkshire people are capable of I said "I don't believe you for one
moment".
As everyone went quiet I though I should explain! "You say you believe
in Total Quality. Every one I meet appears to do so yet does very
little about it. Tell me what have you done in your own working
practices to adopt Total Quality? What have you done as board members
to practice and demonstrate your beliefs in Total Quality and what has
the Board done?"
Do you know what the answer was? Well let me ask you the question. Do
you believe so much in Total Quality that you personally have done
something about the total quality of your own work?
That of course is the problem because too many of us see Total Quality
Management as something others should do not what we should do.
The truth is that if we are to begin to remotely approach Japanese
levels of quality then we had better learn fast to start by example
and by leading from the from the top instead of by imposing it at the
bottom.
As to the latest fad "Mass Customerisation: Towards the 21st Century"
this is simply a buzz word for what the Japanese have been doing for
years. They are now at the point where Panosonic, an electronics
company would you believe, is selling bicycles in the States which are
custom built in Japan. 20,000 different permutations, delivery 3 weeks
from order. We don't need Guru's but we do need to use our eyes and to
look and learn for ourselves. Then we may start to build-build instead
of cut-cut.
But we also need something else: common sense and trust and faith in
our own judgement and abilities.
Instead of all the theories and models, instead of the business
schools (the Japanese are singularly fortunate in only having one),
instead of the latest management fads and fashions, instead of the
management Guru's what we need very simply is common sense
organisation with common sense management.
The trouble, as Lord Sieff has remarked, is that "it is often the
simplest wisdom which is most difficult to find and common sense in
not commonly distributed". In fact I often believe that common sense
should be called uncommon sense.
Let me give you an example of common sense and simple wisdom from a
Sussex gravestone dated 1730. It says it all. "A vision without a task
is but a dream. A task without a dream is but a drudgery. A vision and
a task are the hope of the world".
The need for a vision can be illustrated very easily by the three
stone masons who were asked what they did. One said: "I chisel stone".
The second said: "I earn a living". The third replied: "I build
cathedrals". How many of our staff in your company and in mine now
believe that they build cathedrals?
That is why we need vision: to turn the drudgery of chiselling stone
or earning a living in to building a cathedral. For make no mistake it
is painful and difficult to formulate an effective vision and a
strategy and it is not simply about having a long and boring two day
meeting where the board dreams up a vision and thinks it will become
real by magical process of osmosis. It is in fact so difficult that
most of us don't do it.
The problem is that too many of our visions and strategies are
concerned with defining what we must do in order to survive not what
we have chosen to do in order to thrive.
The bottom line for the common sense organisation is very simple: by
all means be absolutely clear what you have to do to survive but
neglect to think through what you chose to do to thrive at your peril.
Now is the time to look beyond the recession and formulate and
articulate your vision of the future.
Don't make the mistake of thinking it will be easy or simple. Nothing
worthwhile is easy and simplicity is the end point of the painful
process of thinking not the start point. Earlier this year I worked
with the Board of Directors of a company to help them craft their
Vision and Strategy so they will thrive. It took an elapsed time of 6
months and a lot of pain and a lot of heart ache.
A common sense organisation is also about simplicity. I recently read
the text of a presentation which started: "The kaleidoscopic nature of
the transnational organisation creates an environment of
hyper-complexity and dynamic change. Organisations and institutions
must strategically align themselves with 21st century business
opportunities."
What are earth is that all about? What does it mean? "transnational
organisation ... hyper-complexity ... strategically align".
Of course the world is complicated. Or course people and organisations
are complex. Of course the world is becoming more complex. Of course
we cannot possibly begin to comprehend or understand the complexity.
But then the world always has been complex. There is nothing so queer
or complex as folks. It is surprising how much everything changes but
seems to remain the same. Particularly people. Human beings change
very, very slowly and even then the changes are sometimes for the
worst.
So in the common sense organisation we desperately need to keep things
simple and in perspective. If there are two ways to do something and
one is complicated and the other simple then choose the simple way.
Yet as a consultant I increasingly feel that we are inflicted with a
new kind of collective madness which makes otherwise intelligent and
sane people workshop at the altar of complexity.
The truth is that simple things work and work well and complex things
are not robust and often hardly work at all.
The essence of the common sense organisation is people. The success of
any organisation or enterprise depends on what people do and on how
well they do it.
Just think about that for a moment. "The success of any organisation
depends on what people do and on how well they do it" because you know
the bottom line is people. Nothing more, nothing less.
But how do we move from our dependence of the drug of Gurudom to
reliance on real people, to trusting ourselves and trusting our
people? Well we could and should start by re-learning the obvious.
Re-learn the obvious. Techniques such as JIT, TQM and Customer Care
may be important but they are not the prime drivers. The most
important asset we have - in fact the only real one we have - is
people
Re-learn the obvious. Technology should be a tool, not a partner. If
we don't know how to do something without a computer how on earth can
we do it with computers? Incredibly people still try.
Re-learn the obvious. Maximum use of intelligence brings success we
often use the minimum and puzzle over failures. That is not and cannot
be common sense.
Re-learn the obvious. People can be trusted and when they are they
perform well. In fact they perform superlatively well.
Re-learn the obvious. Investment in people and effective training -
not just any training - is highly profitable. This does not mean
throwing money at training: it means developing people within and
without the organisation. It does not mean theories and models. It
does mean action learning which relates to the real needs of both the
organisation and its people.
Re-learn the obvious. Organising people in co-operative groups is the
way to build a competitive organisation in Europe as well as in Japan
and the Far East. For people are essentially the same the whole world
over.
Let me give you just one example. This slide shows the layout of a
conventional assembly operation run by managers: 60 operations, 48
people, 3 organisational entities and masses of space.
This is what happened in the same Digital factory when we formed a
high performance work team and ask the operatives to run the factory.
Much less space, only 21 operations, 18 people instead of 48, 1
organisation instead of three plus higher output.
That was when we were expanding, when job security was not a problem.
Could we do the same now? I doubt it. Yet it we don't continue to make
improvements of this kind how an earth can we compete and survive in
the modern world?
And that is the rub. I think you will see what I mean when I say you
have to have vision to provide hope and direction. What was that
saying from the Bible? "When there is no vision, the people perish."
Re-learn the obvious. Organisations like the Industrial Society have
been preaching the obvious for years: that simple systems, a common
purpose, routines and effective team centred leadership work and work
well. The task, the team and the individual of Action Centred
Leadership.
These are not new, they are not uniquely Japanese, neither are they
what the Guru's and business schools preach. But they are common
sense, they are realistic and they do genuinely reflect human
aspirations and needs.
Putting people first will not achieve results overnight. Nothing will.
There are no easy options for learning what we need to learn and
achieve the astonishing high standards set by our competitors in the
Far East.
Great leaders and great strategists have always enunciated wisdom with
incisive clarity and elegant simplicity. If we are to do the same -
and unless we do our future is bleak - then the first step to wisdom
is to realise we have met the enemy. It is not "them" it is us you and
me.
When we understand this simple and obvious truth we will realise that
without people there would be no profits. And that is the common sense
of leadership, of management and of organisation. I hope that it is
the common sense of your organisation or may become so as a result of
this presentation.
I hope it has also given you food for thought and not spoilt the other
kind of food. Bon appetit!
END
This text formed the basis of a presentation at the Business Advantage
Through Services seminar held at Stoke-on-Trent, England 12 November
1991. Peter Moyes is a member of the South Region Management
Consultancy Service Centre of Digital Equipment.
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